James Lee of
Sandford, and the Suicide of Anna Partridge of
Kennerleigh

On 14th Jan 1845 Anna Maria Partridge, aged about 16,
was “assaulted and grossly insulted” by James Lee (17) of Sandford
on her way home from work in Crediton. Lee was arrested and
sentenced to 3 months’ imprisonment at the February Devon County
Sessions.

Anna was one of nine children of Thomas and Elizabeth Partridge.
Her father was a road worker who lived in the Toll House half a
mile north of Kennerleigh, a small parish
to the north of Sandford. At one time she had been in the service
of Rev Wellington of Upton Hellions.

At the time of the assault she was living at Long
Barn (Creedy Manor) in Sandford with her aunt, Ann Geachsias
whose husband was coachman to Sir Humphrey Davie. For several
months she had been working as a dress maker in Crediton but had
been noticed to be depressed since the assault.

Turnpike
Gate - the toll
house - where Anna and her family were living in 1841.
Kennerleigh is off towards the right.

On Monday 12 May 1845 at about 8 p.m. she purchased one ounce of
oxalic acid from Miss Ann Wreford, druggist of Crediton. The powder
was dispensed in a small envelope labelled “POISON”. (Oxalic acid
was commonly used by milliners to bleach straw bonnets.)

Ann then started walking back towards Sandford, meeting her aunt
as usual by the Horse and Jockey Inn on Jockey Hill in Crediton at
about 9 o’clock. She seemed in low spirits, did not eat her supper
and went to bed at 10 o’clock.

She was heard moving around between 5 and 6 a.m. and then her
aunt heard her groaning in her bedroom, rushed upstairs and found
her collapsed. She called a neighbour and Mr Thomas Howell Stevens,
one of the Crediton doctors, who found her dead. He tasted the
remains of some clear liquid in a tea cup which he found very
bitter and surmised she had died of poisoning.

The inquest was held at Long Barn Farmhouse two days later.
Witnesses stated that Anna had been very nervous since the assault.
Mr Stevens found two letters in a cupboard, one of which, to her
younger sister, is reproduced below.

The jury returned a verdict “…that the deceased died from the
effects of oxalic acid, administered by herself.”

Long Barn,
May 12, 1845

My dearest
Mary Ann,—Do not grieve to examine these few lines from me, your
unworthy sister. But rather pity me, and console the hearts of my
dearest parents. Had I not these intentions this morning, when my
dear Father left? - yet did I not secretly keep them from him, and
with a false tongue say 'I hope to see you in Autumn?' what must I
endure for my weakness? Do not blame me nor reflect but I pray the
Lord to keep you and all dear brothers and sisters from all evil.
Tread in the path that is just and right in the sight of the Lord,
and he will be your Comforter. The cause of my misfortune is a sad
broken heart, known to none but myself. I must, as misery is just
at my hand, just say in a brief way, what I wish, that is you to
console my dear parents, and be a comfort to them in their old age,
should they require it, and you spared to do so. I have just to
add, if it is possible, do come up to my funeral. The few pounds I
have will come to bury my unworthy body, which I should wish to be
buried at Hellins [Upton Hellions], as that place has been my home.
I can scarcely express how kind Mrs. Wellington has been to me, and
I hoped to have shewn to her my gratefulness for it. I hope God
will pardon me for my weakness, and also I further ask pardon of my
dear parents and relations all; and with sorrowing heart, I now
remain,

Your
affectionate Sister,

Good bye,
God bless you all. Nancy
Partridge.

James Lee, who had been convicted of assaulting Anna, was born
and brought up in Sandford. His father James was a farmhand, and
his mother, Susanna nee Mortimore was the widow of William
Holsgrove. In 1841 the Lee family were living at Venn, less than a
mile from Long Barn.

In October 1847 James, now 19, was sentenced to be
transported seven years for “stealing at Upton Hellions on
19th June various articles the property of John
Beer”.

He did not leave the country until 1849, when he was put on
board the convict ship “Adelaide”, destined for Tasmania, however
the residents of Tasmania decided they had had enough criminals
dumped on their shores, so the ship had to carry on to Sydney where
the convicts were disembarked, and given their tickets of
leave.

James made his way up to Brisbane, now in Queensland, where in
1852 he married Ann Lyon, a settler recently arrived from Cranford
near Kettering in Northamptonshire. They had several children.

In May 1886, aged 58, he left his home in Moggill, Queensland to search for his boat
which was missing from its mooring on the Brisbane River. He didn’t
return and a few days later his boat and then his body was found in
the river opposite the asylum at Wolston, he having drowned.